3.02.2006

NEW FEMA VIDEO RELEASED

And it shows Bush lying through his teeth. On video. This is huge, folks. He sat there on Good Morning America and declared that "No one could have anticipated the breach of the levees." Why his pants didn't instantly catch on fire is beyond me.

*****WASHINGTON (AP) -- On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's fateful landfall, President Bush was confident. His homeland security chief appeared relaxed. And warnings of the coming destruction - breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues - were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved. All of it was captured on videotape.

The Associated Press obtained the confidential government video and made it public Wednesday, offering Americans their own inside glimpse into the government's fateful final Katrina preparations after months of fingerpointing and political recriminations.

"My gut tells me ... this is a bad one and a big one," then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

The president didn't ask a single question during the briefing but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage - along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by AP - show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.*****

And here's the clip of the ABC interview I mentioned down below. You know, the one thing the transcripts simply cannot convey is all the smirks Bush gives as he answers the reporters questions. I've never understood that. They're discussing people being stranded and and his Homeland Security Chief being useless and Bush just smirks and smiles?!